Monday 5th July 2010 (Series 63, Prelim 11)

[Ryan Taylor]

After the excitement of apterous' birthday and the gruelling marathon the weekend is over and a new week of Countdown starts here.

Countdown recap for Monday 5 July 2010.

C1: Champion Ryan Loughborough (3 wins, 258 points.)
C2: Challenger Samantha Rhodes.
DC: Susie Dent and Gino D'Acampo.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: D N D E U S W O I
R02: Y R E I U T S N M
R03: T B N A I A O M P
R04: R M T I O E D S I
R05: 100, 3, 9, 8, 3, 7. Target: 219.
TTT: APLASTIC - "Ignore James Brown but think about a man with soul"
R06: G A O L P A O R A
R07: O I S N S O E C L
R08: O E A D T H L E P
R09: F D T H A E C A E
R10: 50, 1, 7, 9, 5, 6. Target: 816.
TTT: RICHOATS - "Rich oats can be turned into beans"
R11: R C O U O R J V A
R12: P L I E I S B A N
R13: F R S O U T T E G
R14: 50, 3, 4, 3, 7, 4. Target: 677.
R15: D I S U S E B I Z (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Ryan Loughborough is the champion and is looking pretty good at the moment. A good win on Thursday against Jonathan Wynn followed up by a score of 97 to dispose of Ali Kelly shows real signs of a worthy competitor. His conundrums have been pretty hot too, solving all 3 in quick times.

Samantha Rhodes is from Nottinghamshire and is a prison officer. She is married to none other than MICHAEL JACKSON! She has a daughter too. BUT SHE'S MARRIED TO MICHAEL JACKSON!!

Gino D'Acampo is in DC today and is apparently the first DC guest to not have English as his first language. He is a professional chef although I knew him as "that guy who killed that rat". Already in his opening talk with Jeff Stelling I like the guy!

Round 1: D N D E U S W O I

C1: DOWNSIDE (8)
C2: SOUNDED (7)
DC: wus DISOWNED (8) (wus from Gino)
OT: DISENDOW (8)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)

What a start from Ryan, maxing this selection with a very good 8.

Round 2: Y R E I U T S N M

C1: TERMINUS (8)
C2: MINTERS (7)
DC: numeri YES (Gino still settling in)
OT: ENTRYISM (8)
Score: 16–0 (max 16)

Back to back 8's and definitely no gimmes. Successive excellent rounds here from the champ.

Round 3: T B N A I A O M P

C1: PATINA (6)
C2: OBTAIN (6)
DC: ANIMA (6) BOATMAN (7) (Courtesy of RR)
OT: ANIMATO (7) MAINTOP (7) TAMPION (7)
Score: 22–6 (max 23)

Some tricky 7's to go at here but both contestants are content with their 6's.

PATINA is a fine coating of oxide on the surface of a metal.

Round 4: R M T I O E D S I

C1: MISTIER (7)
C2: stormied
DC: MOISTER (7) EDITORS (7)
OT: DIORITES (8) MORTISED (8)
Score: 29–6 (max 31)

For the third time in 4 rounds Samantha is beaten by Ryan and as such only has 6 points to her name. She unknowingly offered a falsegram for MORTISED which was there for 8.

Round 5: 100, 3, 9, 8, 3, 7. Target: 219.

C1: 212.
C2: 219. (100+8)*(9-7)+3 (10)
Score: 29–16 (max 41)

Samantha will be ecstatic with this round. Back in the game as Ryan can only offer a bizarre 212.

DC Guest Time: Jeff talks with Gino about foooooood. Particularly Gino doesn't like turkey (unlike this guy)

Teatime teaser: APLASTIC -> CAPITALS

Round 6: G A O L P A O R A

C1: POLAR (5)
C2: GLOOP (5)
DC: parola
OT: APOLAR (6)
Score: 34–21 (max 47)

Strangely nobody thinks to stick one of the other A's to the front to get the darren. Nevermind.

Round 7: O I S N S O E C L

C1: COLONISES (18)
C2: OSSICLE (7)
DC: INCLOSES (8)
OT: ECLOSIONS (18)
Score: 52–21 (max 65)

"Nine". Bang! Brilliant from Ryan. I had DC's INCLOSES for 8 and was nowhere near that 9 let alone the anagram of it! Also Samantha offered a nice 7 but sadly will go unnoticed.

OSSICLE is a small bone; especially one in the middle ear.

Round 8: O E A D T H L E P

C1: LOATHED (7)
C2: PLEATED (7)
DC: POTHEAD (7)
OT: ADOPTEE (7) HEELTAP (7) TADPOLE (7)
Score: 59–28 (max 72)

Maxes from Ryan and Samantha here keeps the gap at 31 points. Gino funnily announces POTHEAD for 7 much to the delight of the audience.

Round 9: F D T H A E C A E

C1: CHEATED (7)
C2: CHEATED (7)
DC: FATHEAD (7)
OT: CATHEAD (7) CHAETAE (7) FACETED (7) FETCHED (7) TEAHEAD (7)
Score: 66–35 (max 79)

And now Gino declares FATHEAD. Enjoyable viewing whilst both contestants CHEATED. That lead is still big though and Samantha needs to do something in this numbers game.

Susie's Origin of Words: Horse theme. We learn the origin of the phrase wild goose chase and also gip.

Round 10: 50, 1, 7, 9, 5, 6. Target: 816.

C1: -
C2: 816. (50+1)*(9+7) (10)
Score: 66–45 (max 89)

Samantha does do something, she nabs all 10 points. This is annoying for me as Ryan has done great in the letters round to establish a lead but has had 20 points taken off him just because of his poor numbers game. He must improve this if he ends up being in the finals.

Teatime teaser: RICHOATS -> HARICOTS

Round 11: R C O U O R J V A

C1: ROAR (4)
C2: coor
DC: curva ORCA
OT: CRURA (5) JUROR (5)
Score: 70–45 (max 94)

Horrid, horrid round.

Round 12: P L I E I S B A N

C1: PLANES (6)
C2: PLIES (5)
DC: BIPLANES (8)
Score: 76–45 (max 102)

Darren here, spotted by DC though as Ryan declares either PLANES or PLAINS, couldn't tell. Doesn't matter though as his word beats Samantha's.

Round 13: F R S O U T T E G

C1: GUTTERS (7)
C2: GUTTERS (7)
DC: FORGETS (7) TOUTERS (7)
OT: FOREGUTS (8)
Score: 83–52 (max 110)

GUTTERS leaped out at everyone here including Gino who apparently spotted it within the first 5 seconds but there was an 8 available, not exactly easy to spot though! The game is now won by Ryan so he doesn't need to worry about his maths.

Round 14: 50, 3, 4, 3, 7, 4. Target: 677.

C1: 678. (3*3+4)*50+7*4 (7)
C2: -
RR: 677. (50+7)*3*4-4-3 (10)
Score: 90–52 (max 120)

Although this time he manages to do pretty well and gets within 1. RR has her time to shine and shows us how to get 677.

Can Ryan make it 4/4 conundrums and hit the century?

Round 15: D I S U S E B I Z

No one buzzes. The answer was SUBSIDIZE.
Score: 90–52 (max 130)

Nope. The Z probably threw both contestants here as it goes unsolved.

Ryan's letters games were solid in this game and won him the game and I would like to see him go further and improve the numbers element of the game to really make him a forceful player. Samantha just never really got going and is now back to work with the inmates.

I need a lie down...goodnight!

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63

[Peter Mabey]

In round 11, I think Gino said "curva", explaining it as a bend.

[Ryan Taylor]

In round 11, I think Gino said "curva", explaining it as a bend.

Right, thank you, I had difficulty understanding some of the things he said!

[Dinos Sfyris]

Ryan Loughborough is the champion and is looking pretty good at the moment.

U R Guay lolz

You're swiftly becoming my favourite recapper Mr Taylor

xoxo